When Lola Penn paints with her son Ian and Eri Ishii, two Vancouver artists, she is able to overcome dementia and communicate with the world.
Lola’s Fourth Life is at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery at the Jewish Community Centre to Sunday, Sept. 8

A 91-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia who had no previous artistic experience has discovered a creative outlet that she has been able to express in a series of paintings now being exhibited at the Jewish Community Centre.

Lola Penn’s unique story is also told in a two-channel video, which records her painting together with her son Ian and Eri Ishii, both Vancouver artists.

Lola’s discovery of her hidden creative talent came about when she was encouraged to draw and paint on pots as a pastime in a nursing home in Sydney, Australia, where she lives.

After Lola developed a life-threatening illness, her son, who is also a cardiologist, travelled to Sydney to help in her recovery.

The simple act of communicating is one of the major challenges of being with someone suffering from dementia. Because the person tends to repeat the same stories and ask the same questions over and over again, conversation can become incredibly frustrating. Lola’s dementia had progressed to the point where she couldn’t recall what she had for breakfast, or follow the narrative in a movie.

In an effort to spend as much time as he could with his mother, Ian started drawing and painting with her over several days. Initially, they did it separately in the same room.

Later, when Ian returned to Sydney, he saw that his mother’s creativity had exploded. Her room was covered with her brightly coloured, abstract works.

As a form of parallel play, Ian started painting with his mother. As they painted together, Ian would start a conversation by asking her about a strong memory — such as her arrival in Port Pirie, the Australian town near Adelaide where Lola first lived after emigrating from France. As Lola focused her attention on the act of painting, she could answer her son’s questions rather than fall into the repetitive cycle of dementia.

“For me, it was a way I could be with my mother in a way that I could access those parts I could not access before,” he said. “It is a way we can be together.”

Penn has no idea whether painting can be used as a way to trigger communication with anyone else with dementia. But he does think the challenge for others dealing with dementia is to be imaginative in finding new ways to communicate.

The problem is likely to become increasingly important not only in B.C. but across the country in coming years. The Alzheimer’s Society of B.C. says that the country is facing a “dementia epidemic.” About 70,000 people in the province, and 500,000 nationally, suffer from Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. Those number are expected to increase by 50 per cent within five years, and double in the next two decades.

“It’s like when the tide is pulling out, and they’re moving with the tide,” he said. “You’ve got only two choices: You can stand at the shoreline and they’re gone. Or you can wade up and try to do something with them.

“This is one mechanism of being able to access that person. It won’t stem the tide, because their memory isn’t going to get better. It is a way to go with the tide.”

Earlier this year, Ishii also travelled to Australia and painted with Lola. She said Lola painted with the openness of a child. She had no self-consciousness about what she was doing as she painted.

“I usually put one stroke of colour, and that set her off,” Ishii said. “Our heads go forward together and backwards together, and we sit back and look at it together — like one person.”

The exhibit includes paintings by Lola, by Lola and her son, and by Lola and Ishii. It’s called Lola’s Fourth Life — referring to her three previous near-death experiences: The first occurred during the Second World War when she went into hiding to escape the roundup of Jews in 1942 in Paris — which led to her mother and brother being arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed; the second was being victimized by a home invasion in Australia; and the third, the life-threatening illness she survived last year.

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The exhibition is at the Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery, 950 W. 41 until Sunday, Sept. 8. Details at www.jccgv.com.

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